MERCED, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's soccer team took down NCAA Division II UC Merced 2-1 in a Wednesday night road match, improving to 7-5-1 on the season. The Banana Slugs saw goals from Soren Groessl and Drew Krawiec in the victory with Tobias Jacobson-Bell earning the win in goal with six saves on the night. The Banana Slugs will be back in action on October 22nd when they travel to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff.
 
How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced traded shots in the opening 10 minutes with Kotetsu Horike and Michael Braun sending their attempts wide, but the Banana Slugs continued to pressure in the early moments of the contest. In the 18th minute, the Banana Slugs broke through with Soren Groeesl striking the back of the net to put UCSC up 1-0. From there, the Bearcats picked up the intensity, firing off five shots while holding the Slugs to zero shots the rest of the half. UCSC saw Tobias Jacobson-Bell while the team picked up two defensive saves, clearing the ball of the line to keep UCSC ahead 1-0 heading into the halftime break despite the Bearcats heavy pressure.
 
Out of the break, UC Merced tested Jacobson-Bell again, but the UCSC keeper made the save before the Slugs countered with three shots on goal in just over a minute of time. In the 63 minute, UCSC broke through once again as Roman Fiechter and Axel Nyman picked up the double assist with Drew Krawiec sending it home to put the Slugs ahead 2-0. The Bearcats quickly countered, cutting the lead to 2-1 in the 70th minute. From there, the Banana Slugs forced UC Merced to make some key saves with shots on goal from Zander Crawford, Jackson Chandler, and Soren Groeesl. The Bearcats held off the pressure from UCSC and saw their final attempt in the 87th minute get saved once again by Tobias Jacobson-Bell, giving UCSC the 2-1 victory over the Bearcats.